Trains between London Victoria and Portsmouth face 'disruption' as commuters deal with persistent delays

Delays and disruption are expected throughout the day on a popular train route.

National Rail reports that commuters will be running into difficulties on the line between Portsmouth Harbour and London Victoria. They said delays are likely throughout the day due to a safety inspection.

“A safety inspection of the track between Chichester and Havant means trains have to run at reduced speed on all lines,” the transport body said on its website. “Services running between these stations may be delayed by up to 20 minutes. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

“If you are travelling between Chichester and Havant you can travel on your normal route, but you will need to allow up to an additional 10 minutes to complete your journey. Please talk to station staff, look at the information boards or check your journey planner for the most recent information.”

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Passengers have been plagued with different incidents on the lines to and from Portsmouth. Signalling problems are a common occurrence despite regular closures for infrastructure works. The lines between Portsmouth, Fareham, and Havant, were shut over half term for the works part of the Havant signalling programme.

Starting in March, it’s hoped the engineering work will solve problems caused by “increasingly unreliable” equipment signalling failures in the last year have led to more than 18,500 minutes of delays on the line. At the cost of £120m, the work is due to be finished by 2028.

South Western Railway has issued several warnings that the heat is also a factor. While temperatures soared to near 30C, many services were cancelled, delayed, or changed. Many passengers were furious and vented their frustrations on social media. The train company said at the time: “We are very sorry for any disruption to your journey.”